I traced my fingers along the gold lettering of the white book at my desk beside the bed. 

“The Voice inside...An odd title.”

I flipped to the first page and my eyes widened. An illustration of the sandy arena right before my eyes. I hastily turned to the next few pages and an arena was drawn on each page. Different arenas. 

First was the sandy arena where I was finally able to have full control over this body instead of that other weak persona I hate to admit is mine. The picture even showed the shadowy figures in the stands along with the surrounding desert. 

The second arena had a completely different environment drawn around it. An island that floated over a large pool of lava, some smaller islands connecting to it from the sides. However, no shadow figures were drawn into it. In fact, there only seemed to be the shadows in the first arena. 

The rest of the arenas shown seemed to be connected to the other elements. Water, air lightning, Ice, and... shadow? I flipped to the last arena which just showed a black hole, a void of some sort. I stared into the abyss on the page longer until suddenly my head pounded with a heavy thumping.

I fell off my chair and curled on the floor, clutching at my head. It hurts, it hurts, why does it hurt. It sounded like a hundred hushed voices speaking all at once.

“Why!”

“Leave!”

“Weakling!” 

Their whispers turned into shouting, all of them overlapping with each other. I laid on the floor with my head against the ground, banging it against the carpet. 

I flipped onto my back and brought my finger to my forehead, tracing a circle counter-clockwise. The pressured feeling in my head started to subside. The voices thinned out until it reached a deafening silence. 

I laid there, breathing heavily as if I just ran three miles. My heart feeling as if it was running its own marathon

“Open up, Leo.” said a deep voice from behind my door.

Sigh… I struggled to my feet and staggered with my balance before patting down my clothes. I grabbed the white book from my desk and threw it towards my bed. It disappeared in mid-air, being transferred to a personal vault of mine. 

I shuffled my feet towards the door and pulled it open. Standing before me was the buff dorm master. His greenish grey skin with a snout nose and small pointed ears. He had only one tusk and his fangs were not that sharp compared to other orcs. A scar under his eye that reached to the corner of his mouth made him look somewhat intimidating.

If he was a good fighter, he would have never gotten a scar in the first place. He was half-dressed in leather battle armor like he was about to go to war. Weird sense of fashion if I must say.

“What?” 

“Professor Maevis requires your attention.” he said, cuffing my wrists with the wave of a hand. 

I looked down at the chains and pulled. Hmm… his binding magic seems to be really strong. However, I could easily break out of these chains if I wanted to with a number of spells just off the top of my head. 

I gave a sly smirk to him and held up my wrists higher. I’ll let them humor me with what they want. Is it because of the library? This is the top magical academy in the kingdom, that place could be restored in a manner of seconds.

The dorm master proceeded across the courtyard with me in tow; to others it would seem like I am some prisoner off to get executed. We walked away from the dorm and took the path to the main building in the center. This was where all the non-combat classes were held, learning more of the fundamentals than actual practical uses. The building contained five tall towers each with their own purposes.

We walked up the spiral staircase that stood in the middle of the Main Hall and reached the top of the central tower. Two greystone doors were waiting for us. Engraved on the surface was a crown and two wands crossed together. Underneath was the lettering.

“Headmaster. Now, this has become interesting.” I said. 

I brought my wrists together and the chains quickly discolored like rust until I pulled my hands apart to break free. Really is simple. I pushed past the orc and opened the door, a fiery orange filling my vision. 

A phoenix the size of the large orc came rushing out towards me, spiraling with intense speed! 

Tsk.